Learning from conflict and disaster in the Eastern Mediterranean region

Political instability and natural disasters in the region have been responsible for many humanitarian crises over the past two decades, and there is little likelihood that the situation will improve in the future. Recent and ongoing crises in Lebanon, Somalia, Sudan, Afghanistan, Iraq, and the Occupied Palestinian Territory pose huge difficulties, as the three personal perspectives of experience on the front line by Hill and colleagues, Van de Pas, and Al Sheibani and colleagues underline. In the first article Musani and Shaikh argue that more investment should be made in preparing for disaster and attempting to reduce the vulnerability of communities at risk.